Ex Stream Benefits: Look at the best on OTT in October

Big disappointments on the digital platform during the festive month. If the movie theatres were a slog during Dussehra and Diwali, the OTT didn’t lag behind. Dreary was the flavour of the month when Shantaram came long after a 14-year banwaas which turned out to be bakwaas. It was not all a loss, though. Some gems sparkled like deeyas in the dark. Here are the ones that saved the month.

Appan (SonyLIV)

The two best films of the month on OTT were both profoundly violent. Appan is a masterpiece…or shall we say a monster piece about a patriarch so evil he makes Jeffrey Dahmer look like an amateur. Lying paralyzed in bed Alencier Ley Lopez delivers a tour de force performance as the father from hell. Sunny Wayne as the tormented son will melt your heart. I have often been told by film fans that watching film in an alien tongue is like reading the screen. Ignore the subtitles. Just watch the blizzard of domestic malevolence in Appan. Director Maji qualifies as a master storyteller.

Ammu (Amazon Prime)

Not in the same league as Deepa Mehta’s hell-in-the-bedroom Heaven on Earth and nowhere close to achieving the chilling realism of the domestic violence in Roddy Doyle’s novel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, Charukesh Sekar’s Ammu in Telugu scored big, thanks to the central performances by Aishwarya Lekshmi and Naveen Chandra . It is easy to rave about Lekshmi since she plays a victim. But Chandra as the perpetrator of the violence is just as powerful, The second half of the film goes woefully wayward. But the narrative has enough grit to survive the blows, just like the protagonist.

Four More Shots, Please Season 3 (Amazon Prime)

Anjana ( Kirti Kulhari ), Siddhi ( Maanvi Gagroo ), Umang (Bani J) and Damini (Sayani Gupta) are back. But make no mistake about who the real stars of this tongue-lashing whip series are. Full marks to series creator Rangita Pritish Nandy, writer Devika Bhagat, dialogue writer Ishita Moitra and director Joyeeta Patpatia for investing so keenly into the characters. Besides the four protagonists, the rest of the casting also remains nearly impeccable. This season there are interesting additional actors like Shilpa Shukla, Rohan Mehra, Jim Sarbh and Sushant Singh playing actors who most certainly add to the enticing patina. The tone is deliciously elitist: posh hotels are the favourite shooting spot. This doesn’t take away from the show’s connectible joie de vivre. Constantly showing the middle finger to conventions Four More Shots, Please remains a game-changing show, for allowing four saucy sassy sexy women the freedom to do what they like.

Maja Ma (Amazon Prime)

The other day a legendary actress asked me, ‘Why is Madhuri doing such films?’ I politely asked her to explain ‘such things’ She was upset for Madhuri playing a housewife who outs as a lesbian. ‘Aur woh bhi itne dino ke baad?’ I have to agree with the excruciating timeline and the absolutely concocted circumstances in which Madhuri ’s character Pallavi Patel is forced out of the closet. If only the bold theme was supported by some judicious writing! Nonetheless,  Maja Ma has a lot going for itself including a resplendent Dixit who gets better with age. Like wine.

Mismatched 2 (Netflix)

I have to admit I am a sucker for sassy love stories. Both Rohit Saraf and Prajakta Koli give off that spark in the dark that indicates some genuine talent waiting to implode. Sadly the written material here is largely lame. Sometimes the narrative splutters to life and those are the moments I’d like to hold on to. Director Akarsh Khurana knows how to juice the central theme discreetly. It was sad to see Vihaan Samat the bright young protagonist from Eternally Confused & Eager For Love struggling in an underwritten part. Mismatched could have been a lot more than it actually is. The creative resources are on display. But the storytelling lets the talent down.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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